Just so you know, Not everything I try is a success. I know that there are friends that think I am making it up. After all I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge.
Now, it is true that I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge. And yet, trust me, I have very bad cooking experiences! Last week was a great example. . . I was on a roll! (more…)
David is the breakfastmeister in our house. For years he was the eggs and potato king. Or pancakes and eggs emperor. The rice and eggs sultan. You get the idea.
As we started to eliminate eggs from our diet we (obviously) had to rethink breakfast. Consequently, we have been eating hot grain cereals, granola and occasion gluten-free pancakes or waffles topped with nut butter and fresh fruit. The problem with gluten-free pancakes/waffles is that they require an egg, use processed flour and are expensive.
Then one day David had an idea: he know how to create a decent pancake with no gluten no eggs and no processed sugar. Long story, short, we invested in a big bag of buckwheat groats. (more…)
Over the last year as we changed how we ate, my dilemma has been what to call the “diet” we eat.
Being a vegetarian (as in eating a vegetarian diet) is fine with me. It is, in fact, an accurate description of my life-long dietary habits. Mostly I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian which means I ate eggs and dairy as part of my regular diet. (more…)
David found a package of rice lasagna noodles the other day and said, “you know, I am really hungry for lasagna. Think you can make a vegan version that tastes good?”
Nothing like a challenge! Especially since lasagna is one of those quick meals that is perfect for a crowd. The trick, of course is to bake it on low heat with lots of liquid so you never have to precook the noodles! I really have not made this dish since we gave up dairy last year so I figured I just wing it and see what happened.
The place to start was with my more or less standard combination of vegetables (carrots, zucchini, green pepper, onions, garlic and spinach). That was all easy! The part that took a little thinking was what to use in place of ricotta cheese. (more…)
David ordered this book last week. Very nice of him! I promptly stole it right out from under his nose and have been reading it all week! All I can says is PLEASE read this book!
Finally a diet book based on good sense AND as an added bonus, the science is solid. Over the years I have had hundreds of arguments about the evils of carbs. I knew intuitively that carbs were not the enemy but couldn’t articulate what was wrong with the starch turns to sugar which turns to fat argument. Thanks to this book, now I can. (more…)
There must be some Italian buried in my genes! It would at least explain why I love pasta so much! When David found out he was gluten intolerant I was pretty sure my life was over. No more pasta??
Fortunately there are a lot of great gluten-free pastas on the market. After trying brown and wild rice, corn and quinoa, we decided we like brown rice best. But if you haven’t experiment with the kinds, you owe it to yourself to try.
This is my own version of veggie pasta based very loosely on a similar dish I once ate at California Pizza Kitchen.
Brown rice is probably our most flexible staple. We use it as breakfast cereal, for specialty rice dishes (like Spanish Rice), salads or a quick add to bean based meals for an extra protein boost.
At the end of every week we gather up any veggies we can find laying around, nuts and even beans. We throw them in a pan and add rice for a quick, thrifty meal. The trick is adding a good mix of herbs and mirepoix to give it great flavor without resorting to too much salt or soy sauce. (more…)
I grew up eating veggie patties. Mom would serve them smothered in gravy and accompanied by potatoes and a veggies. Leftovers would be recycled as “hamburgers” for lunches or snacks. We usually have some sort of veggie burger or veggie loaf in the fridge for exactly the same reason.
I probably have 25 versions of this recipe, but this happens to be the one I used today. (more…)
The advantage of cooking a big batch of beans on Sunday is that even after making the Baked Beans, I still have some extra. There a probably a thousand ways to use extra beans.
One of my favorites is to make a quick soup to heat and eat for lunches or to add to dinner when you want a little something more. Lots of nutrition and great low calorie treat. (more…)
Beans are one of those wonderfully healthy foods. High in fiber, protein and minerals and very low in calories. So when it comes to baked beans, I always been ambivalent about eating them. I like fact that they burst with flavor but all the brown sugar and molasses give me great pause.
Beans, especially white beans, are pretty much flavorless. So we decided to try something different. Over the winter (when having the oven on felt great) we did a bunch of baked navy bean experiments and came up with our favorite. It is flavorful, filling and tastes as good with honey in it as without. (more…)
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